Mitchell Rosenthal

CPA, CGMAPartner

Overview

Mitchell Rosenthal, CPA, CGMA, is an accounting and audit partner at Anchin as well as a member of the Firm’s Financial Services Practice and Philanthropy Group. With more than 30 years of experience, Mitchell specializes in providing audit, accounting, and business advice while resolving tax issues for his clients. Start-up and well established domestic and offshore investment partnerships, funds of funds, master-feeder structures, broker/dealers, and investment advisors contribute to his array of clients; he also has extensive experience with audits of not-for-profit entities.

Mitchell is in charge of preparing annual updates to the audit financial statements which must conform to the ever-changing regulatory landscape of investment companies. He also is involved in recruiting talented staff, mentoring existing staff, and training for the practice.

Mitchell is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA).

On December 13, 2017, in Lender Management, LLC v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that a family office, Lender Management, LLC (“Lender Management”), carried on a trade or business as an investment manager rather than as a passive investor and was therefore entitled to deduct expenses under §162 (“deductible above-the-line with no income limitation”) vs. §212 (“miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% of adjusted gross income (AGI) floor”). As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”) signed into law on December 22, 2017, miscellaneous itemized deductions (or §212 deductions) are no longer deductible and are suspended from 2018 through 2025.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”), which was signed into law on December 22, 2017, enacts a broad range of changes with most provisions taking effect for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. This alert summarizes some of the key (federal) tax provisions of the Tax Act affecting managers of hedge funds, private equity funds and other investment funds or fund vehicles.

In a decision handed down in the summer, the U.S. Tax Court refused to accord deference to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) administrative ruling treating the sale of partnership interests as the sale of assets the partnership uses in a U.S. trade or business, thereby subjecting the resulting gain to taxation as income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. The recently passed tax reform law overrides the Tax Court decision. Meanwhile, the IRS intends to appeal against the same decision.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently published a primer to educate the public on virtual currencies. In the explanation, the CFTC outlined its position regarding its role regulating virtual currencies. The primer suggests that the CFTC sees itself having jurisdiction over certain virtual currency transactions, including Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

A provision in the Senate’s tax plan would take away an investor’s ability to specifically identify which stock shares they relieve when they go to sell their holdings. The provision would require investors selling a portion of a position in stock to sell their oldest shares first, also known as first-in-first-out, or FIFO. This provision is slated to take effect on stock sales starting on January 1, 2018 and is estimated to increase government revenue by $2.7 billion over the next 10 years. The House tax bill, released in early November 2017, did not address this topic.

Since their launch, cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have operated in a regulatory grey area. Should they be treated as currencies? Securities? As something completely different? In a July report, the SEC clarified the situation and set a new precedent: Digital assets can be treated as securities and fall under federal securities law.

Cybersecurity continues to be a top priority for the SEC. They recently reviewed 75 firms, including broker-dealers, investment advisers, and investment companies, to see what the financial industry is doing well related to cybersecurity, as well as what needs to be improved. Firms should use this information to evaluate and improve their own protection of client data and be aware of these issues which the SEC will be on the lookout for during future inspections.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Tax Court refused to accord deference to an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) administrative ruling treating the sale of partnership interests as a sale of assets the partnership uses in a U.S. trade or business, thereby subjecting the resulting gain to taxation as income effectively connected to a U.S. trade or business.

Earlier this year, we shared information with you about several proposed bills that would increase taxes due on investment performance allocations, commonly known as carried interest. Carried interest is the share of profits that fund managers receive in exchange for managing investments. The controversy over carried interest arises because the current tax rules allow managers to pay taxes on portions of the carried interest allocation at the (long term) capital gains rate rather than the higher tax rate that normally applies to ordinary income.

The SEC’s Custody Rule continues to be a headache for registered investment advisers. The conditions are so unclear, it’s easy to inadvertently trigger custody rule violations. To help advisers adjust, the SEC recently issued clarification for three confusing situations under the rule.

Call it a wake-up call for registered investment advisers—the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Risk Alert, highlighting the top five compliance issues found in deficiency letters sent to SEC-registered investment advisers.

Late in 2015, Congress passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (the Act), which includes a complete overhaul of the procedures that apply to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits of partnerships and limited liability companies (LLCs) taxed as partnerships and their partners.

The Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) have released their Exam Priorities for 2016. Each of the regulators have organized their focus around a number of key issues.

Last week, the SEC announced its examination priorities for 2015. Three themes highlighted the areas of focus for the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE"): Protection of retail investors and investors saving for retirement, assessing market-wide risk and using enhanced data analysis to identify those engaged in potential illegal activity.